Highest availability

Multiple Machines

With a single managed server your applications will on run on just
one machine. Positive's individual servers provide the greatest
stability in the industry but all your eggs are in one basket. Even
though we take consummate care of that “basket”, critical application
require more than this. In the face of of adversity, even in the
worst-case scenario, vital systems simply must remain available. This
means going beyond the single-server solution.

Smooth Scalability

A requirement of popular hosted application is that the system grow
to keep up with demand, and that no “growing pains” accompany the
additional capacity. Serious business applications require massive
scalability for any demand, and they require this ramping-up of hosting
to go smoothly, with absolutely no disruption to the application as a
whole.

Load Balanced

Business critical venture demand a cluster system. This spreads the
load of the hosted application across any number of machines. For
example, one machine might run a web-server and another handle the
databases. As demand grows, further machines can be added to the
database service, and spread the requests across these devices. You
don't need to be an expert at load-balancing: Positive can design the
system to fit your project and budget perfectly.

Fallover Clusters

Furthermore
we configure a cluster so that the failure of a single component cannot
cause the whole system to die. For example, two database server
machines might keep in perfect synchronisation, so that the failure of
one is inconsequential to the availability of the database service as a
whole.

With such a cluster solution, should a single machine fail, the
system automatically moves over to use the hot-standby machine which had
kept in perfect synchronisation. As with a multi-engined aircraft, the
system as a whole does not crash, thanks to the usefully-redundant
duplication built in.

Securely Partitioned

Another benefit of the cluster system is in its increased security
Different services lie behind different security zones, and are
segregated so that a compromise is one part of the system does not
affect security as a whole. Rather than trying to tune a machine to an
average performance profile and security requirement, we can tune each
aspect of a cluster to the specific task that runs of it. Such tailoring
increases security, stability and throughput, and with Positive it
comes as part of the standard Managed Cluster service.

Design Wisdom

Setting up a cluster system takes a large amount of expertise and
experience. It can also take a large number of specialised components.
At Positive, we have gained and unparalleled experience with
technologies that minimise the cost and complexity of running such a
system. These technologies, as ever are Open, completely flexible, and
rock solid.

High Support

This is why banks, major broadcasters and international retailers
rely on us to design, manage and run their hosting clusters: we provide a
solution that just “works” and is tested in every conceivable
failure-mode to prove its resilience. We manage the cluster as a whole,
not just the individual machines, and leave you to do what you'd prefer
to spend your time doing – running your business.

Geographical Resilience

Positive Internet's resilient clusters have guaranteed reliability
built from the ground up, including multiple power sources, network
paths, power supply unity, physical cables and backups. For the ultimate
in such guaranteed reliability, we offer geographical redundancy, where
we can house a part of your cluster in one of our server facilities
hundreds of miles from your primary system. This remote facility has its
own, utterly independent networks paths to the internet.